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Shearer: Oscar winner 'Amour' a startling new look at getting old

FILE - This publicity film image released by Sony Pictures Classics shows Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant in a scene from the Austrian film, "Amour." The film directed by Michael Haneke won an Academy Award in the Foreign Language Film category on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Sony Pictures Classics)

Why would anyone want to watch a movie like “Amour”? It’s about a retired couple of music teachers happily living their autumn years together in a small apartment when one of them is crippled by a stroke. It’s cold, distant, sad, contains almost no music, and it’s in French. Even fans of foreign movies might have trouble finding the motivation to experience such a film, much less the average viewer.

Director Michael Haneke has made a career out of squirm-inducing, soul-destroying character dramas. From 1997’s “Funny Games” to 2009’s Oscar-nominated “The White Ribbon,” his work could even be categorized as horror (Haneke did an English-language remake of “Games” in 2008 in the wake of the “torture porn” craze). In fact, “Ribbon” has more in common with “Children of the Corn” and “The Bad Seed” than you might expect. No one walks out of this guy’s movies feeling warm and fuzzy, but that’s hardly the point.

In “Amour,” main characters Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) and Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) have settled into a nice, comfortable routine when Anne suddenly blanks out one day at the breakfast table. Instead of using emotional music cues and close-ups of tearful panic, Haneke puts us right in the room with the couple as their lives change forever. With her mind still clear, Anne makes Georges promise never to place her in a nursing home, allowing her to spend the remainder of her days at home. As her condition worsens and concerns from daughter Eva (Isabelle Huppert, star of Haneke’s best film, “The Piano Teacher”) grow, this pact becomes increasingly more difficult to maintain.

One could argue that there’s no point in watching a movie that goes to great lengths to present such stark realism. But movies, even ones based on true stories, are still an escape of some kind. Even so-called “reality” TV shows are shot, edited and presented to increase dramatic and comedic effect. After all, it’s entertainment, which is something we use to get a break from our day-to-day lives. One of the many genius things about “Amour” is the way it exposes and strips away those comfortable, often intrusive safety nets that allow us to keep our distance and never totally connect with the truth. Simply put, it’s a narrative drama that refuses to pander to our voyeuristic culture and forces it to confront itself.

Last Sunday, “Amour” took home the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, increasing the likelihood that people will check it out (more out of obligation than anything else). If you’re worried about getting upset, consider that Haneke isn’t out to hurt your feelings. It could be argued that nearly all other films that deal with the difficulties of aging and relationships are carefully orchestrated to pull your emotions in different directions as the story unfolds, but “Amour” does not. As the English translation of its title suggests, this film is a love story. If asking you to stand shoulder to shoulder with Anne and Georges (rather than just observe them) is somehow too much, it speaks volumes of Haneke’s great skill and raises questions about how often reality is carved up and fed back to us in easily digestible pieces.